Somebody please remind me again why it’s against NCAA rules to have a friend lend you his car for a week while yours is in the shop being repaired, and yet it’s not considered an “extra benefit” when bowls heap gifts on “student-athletes” that aren’t available to anyone else enrolled at their schools?

Gift suites are set up as private events in which game participants and often bowl VIPs are given an order form and allowed to select a gift or gifts up to a value that is predetermined by each specific bowl, not to exceed the NCAA limit of $550 per person.

And the best part is that it’s all legal … unless John Blake happens to be there handing the stuff out.

This really doesn’t look anything like accepting benefits. Yes the rules are pretty stupid for something like borrowing a car when yours is in the shop, but there isn’t any way that what is done here could be construed as helping one team over another. The gifts given here are more comparable to championship rings – only the recipient can actually DO something with a gift package.

NCAA rules need to be fixed. But the premise that this is somehow corrupt is pretty ridiculous.